Article written by: Sharon Kitchen- Clinical aromatherapist and massage therapist at The West-Gate Clinic Despite the onset of menopause hitting women around the world at a similar age, usually 49/50 years old, why do Japanese women experience menopausal symptoms less than western women? If your mind springs to genetic factors, think again. When Japanese women move to western countries, research has found that their symptoms increase. Dr. Mary Jane Minkin, a professor in obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive health at Yale Medical School believes that the answer lies with the social perception of aging. Women are thought of as wiser and more respected with age in Japanese culture, with the menopause often being embraced as a positive life event. The perception in the western world can often be the opposite, with age and the menopause combining, leading to fear, catastrophisation and the beginning of a downward spiral. There is also the western inclination to place a high importance on the value of youthfulness. We only have to see the amount of Botox pumped into faces to try and banish wrinkles and lines to understand that the obsession with youthfulness is appearing in women way before the onset of the menopause. Attitudes toward the menopause are not inflexible, in fact research reports that negative attitudes towards the process can act as a “Self Fulfilling Prophecy” resulting in women who have a neutral or positive attitude to this transitional phase having a very different experience. So how could menopause be seen as a good thing? Well the results of menopause can offer sexual freedom, freedom from the need of contraception and also financial pressure on the purchase of sanitary wear. Menopause in the western world is largely medicalised and dominated by terms such as “reproductive failure” and “ovarian failure” giving rise to the attitude that menopause is a disease that must be treated rather than a biological transition. The Continence Foundation of Australia reports that In the Arab world, the word menopause corresponds to the period in life meaning “desperate age”. Yet native American women don't have a single word meaning menopause and Japanese women have no equivalent word for hot flushes. In some Islamic and African societies post menopausal women no longer have to observe strict gender rules which could account for lower reported symptoms. Looking solely at Japanese culture has produced two examples of non medical influence on menopause. Social context, paired with diet. Therefore, as with obesity, heart disease, depression and anxiety, there’s a solid argument for natural interventions and lifestyle changes to lead the way before automatically choosing the mainstream medical route of HRT. So is it solely a social predicament? As well as Japanese women reportedly suffering less severe hot flushes, they have also been shown to have a lower risk of vascular disease, osteoporosis and brain cancer. One of the theories that links these symptoms together is that Japanese women include a lot of Soy in their diet which contains isoflavones. Isoflavones are naturally occurring molecules that can be found in various beans. They have been found to increase the serum oestrogen levels in people who have a high content of these beans in their diet. Isoflavones can also be taken as a supplement. Low bone density is one of the main downsides of the menopause, which is why a 2020 paper conducted a systematic search of soybean influence on menopausal bone density changes. The study found that ‘Isoflavone interventions, genistein (54 mg/day) and ipriflavone (600 mg/day) in particular, have beneficial effects on bone mineral density outcomes and are safe in postmenopausal women’. References
https://www.continence.org.au/news/cultural-perspectives-menopause https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32524173/ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-menopause-perceptions-idUSKBN0OL1XH20150605 https://bmcwomenshealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6874-12-43
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